Cousin Day

I have a cousin that lives in Milwaukee that had a baby – and we were chatting on facebook one day and she wanted us to make a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo and to see them this summer.  Long story short another one of my cousins, Shawna, was going to Milwaukee and we all went to the zoo.  Shawna lives only a mile from my parents but yet I see here… none!  : )  It was very fun getting to spend time with her and her family!  And letting the second cousins (that is what they are, right… my cousins kids and my kids are second cousins?) play and spend the day together. 

Like I mentioned, we don’t see them very often at all, but Mallory took right to the boys and went and did everything they did.

Standing in line for a camel ride.  Jett, Mallory & Jake

Yes we paid $15 for a two minute camel ride!  : ) 

Here is sweet Izzy!  She was the sweetest baby girl ever!  She rode in her stroller the whole time with this happy little look.  Chewed on her toys.  Chewed on the boys bracelet.  People watched.  Checked out the animals. Never once, and I truly mean never, did she squawk or cry.  So content!  And so dang cute!

Getting on the camel!

Coming around the teeny tiny loop!  : ) 

Posing for a picture! 

Stopping for some pets from Leanne!

They are having fun!

Petting the goats!

I think these two are begging for some quarters to get some goat food to feed the goats. 

Mallory followed Jett everywhere!  If I lost Mallory – all I had to do was look for Jett and she was right by his side.  If I needed Mallory and I call for Mallory… she wouldn’t come.  So I call for Jett… he would come and Mallory would be right there.  : )  They were standing on this fence together and it was so cute, but Jett jumped down before I got the picture.

It was way too crazy to take pictures – so that was all I had.  Then both kids fell asleep and a stranger said to me – I hope you have a picture of that!  And I didn’t.  So I got out the camera for two more pictures.  I did not put Max’s sunglasses like this – he did.

Mallory must have been very tired.  She is refusing naps right now and she climbed in the stroller all on her own and took a nap. 

After the zoo we had a waterpark hotel rented and the boys came to play at the waterpark with us before they headed home.  It was very refreshing end to a hot day at the zoo. 

One of the boys, Jake, was trying to get me to go down the waterslide with him so I left my kids with Shawna and went down the slide.  Josh was truly afraid of the slide but some how Jesse convinced him to go down with him and they were behind Jake and I in line.  So we were razzing Josh and getting him even more nervous.  Then I told the lady helping you into the tubes and down the slide to make sure to give Josh a really big push and then I screamed the whole way down to make it even more scary for Josh.  : ) 

I got to the bottom and back by Shawna and she says – were you screaming?  LOL!  Yup!  Then Josh came down!  : )  He did just fine and actually went down a few more times. 

Well now Shawna wants to go down and I said I would go with her and we would take Mallory.  It was a three seater tube with a bottom and there were little kids in front of me that went down.  It was a very safe ride so I wasn’t hesitant at all on taking her.  Mallory said she wanted to go with us. 

We get all the way to the top and we stand in line for a bit and then we are next in line and Mallory starts jumping up and down – I have to go potty!  I have to go potty!  We tell her it is faster to hop on this tube and go down then to go back down all these stairs.  We get in the tube… Mallory is in the front.  We are flying down this slide and we get to the bottom and I see this wall of water coming at us.  OH CRAP!  I try to block it from Mallory… like you can block it from coming over the top of her… and no luck.  She is drenched.  I am drenched.  I am laughing so hard because I was not expecting that.  That didn’t happen to Jake and I.  Shawna gets Mally out of the tube and says “Mallory was that so much fun?”  Mallory says… NO!  She did not want to that again.  Then we ask her “Mallory do you still have to go potty?”  Her response is a little delayed with an um… and then a yeah.  : )  She must of seen that wall of water and couldn’t hold it any more.  I did take her though and she did go.  We could not get her to go down the slide again though.  : )  And to this day she still says she didn’t like that ride.

The boys had to go home and we decided we need to do that again next year.  The kids loved hanging out with each other!  Funny how we have to travel 5 hours to see each other when we only live an hour apart.  : ) 

Can we make a tent? Please!

Mallory is into a huge tent making phase.  Like huge!  She needs to have a tent made every. single. day.  She has even corrupted my little Max into needing a tent!  I’m not kidding this is our morning routine… get up.  eat breakfast.  make a tent. 

This drives me crazy!  I can’t stand all the blankets every where!  I can’t stand all the furniture getting moved around!  It feels like chaos!  However… I let them do it.  I let them do it every. single. day.  Because sometimes it isn’t about me.  : ) 

I had Jesse set up our real camping tent (that we used pre-kids) outside for her.  I thought she would think it was the coolest thing and not ever want to make a tent in the house.  WRONG!  She wanted to go in the house and make one after she was in the real one!  Can’t win!  I just can’t win!  : )

So now we have multiple tents.  They continue to make their morning tent.  And if Mallory doesn’t make it – Max will (I’m not even joking about this) point to the blanket and say “tent”.  He learned the word tent!  And we have the tent outside that they rarely play with.  Sometimes we have snack time out there – but it is way too hot in there these days so we didn’t last long in there. 

I decided to take pictures one day of their tent so I that I will never forget this phase.  ; )

I think Maxwell is pretending to be a tiger.  He growls a lot and chases us.  He thinks it is a hoot.

Mallory in her tent!  See she use to like them like this. 

Now she wants “the windows shut”.  Meaning she wants the blanket to go all the way to the ground and it to be dark in her tent.  However, I apparently am no good at those kind of tents because she never likes mine.

Look at that face!  She loves her tents! 

Beach Day #2

We went back to the beach this time with our swim suits!  It wasn’t as warm as the first day we were there – but it was still nice.  Mally got to swim – which she loves lately!  She loves being able to float in her life jacket and let the current take her down the river.

Maxwell wasn’t a big fan of being in the water.  I had to hold him and I would dip him in every once in a while and he would try to climb back up me and get in his spot… on my hip.  : )

The sand never got old either for them! 

Max squats and plays like this a lot.

He is also never far from me. 

He had to sit on my towel right next to me and play in the sand.

A video of the kids playing in the sand and the water.  I must have had my finger over the mic because you can’t hear them talking, but still a good memory to have.